Judging by chatter around campus today, the student body is FREAKING OUT.

I got the press release in my email box directly from Baylor today.

I may try to paste it here later. The way they present it and list his credentials, the dude's pretty impressive. Really.

This could set Baylor up to be very competitive down the road.

Well, we've already got our "2012 vision" to become a full-fledged research university. How competitive do we need to be? (This comment has nothing to do with Starr, since I really don't care.)

I heard Starr speak and intersected with him a couple of times while in law school and early in my career, through Christian Legal Society channels/events. Quaid is right - Starr is incredibly intelligent, thoughtful and accomplished. The general public (and the student body, probably) only knows him b/c of one very public thing he was asked to do. But the guy has the tools to do an excellent job at this post IMO, if those with political/PR agendas will just give him a chance and the benefit of the doubt.

Jared - excellent point.

Andrew - I wonder what the context is for students at Baylor protesting. Most of them were 8 or 9 when Starr did his thing as special prosecuter in the Lewinsky scandal. Do a lot of students know much about him?

I have some liberal friends who are professors at Baylor, and my guess is that they are beside themselves right now.

I'm giving it a "wait and see" stance. Of course, of late the presidency at Baylor has started feeling a lot like a post as professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts (hopefully not for the same reasons... ;) ), but maybe Starr will stick around longer and do a good job.

He is kind of a bizarre choice, though, given the streak of controversy Baylor's had for a while.

Bird, you have received the Creative Writer Blogger Award. See my blog for details.

Well, it's a dubious honor, but I hope you enjoy it.

Riley,
That's a good question. FWIW, the Baylor board of Regents claims to care about such things and claims that's a major criterion. I'd certainly like to hear more about this guy's walk with Jesus, but here's what I could find so far...

Source

"His depth of experience and exceptional record as a university dean and legal scholar, his dedication to the highest ideals of the Christian faith, and his profound commitment to public service and visionary leadership make him the ideal person to lead Baylor at this remarkable time in the university's history."

...has been an articulate advocate for Christian ideals in the public square."

"Judge Ken Starr brings to this task an uncommon understanding of Baylor's unique and distinct mission as a national Christian university with historic Baptist ties. He represents the very best of what it means to be an active churchman who, along with his wife Alice, puts his belief into action," said Dr. Kenneth L. Hall, chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and CEO of Buckner International.

Starr said he respects Baylor's history as he looks forward to its future. "With its great tradition in the Christian world and its growing international reputation as a research university that continues to care deeply about undergraduate education, Baylor is poised to have an increasingly expanding global impact," Starr said. "With the goals of educational excellence and Christian commitment remaining firmly before us, I count it a great blessing and honored responsibility to commit my talents and strengths to stand alongside the Baylor Family in writing the next chapter in this university's storied history."

What attracted you to Baylor?

Starr: I am inspired and attracted to Baylor University's commitment to integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment...

As a baptized believer who is firmly committed to the goals of excellence and humanity in Christian higher education, I am eager to serve...

You're coming from an institution at Pepperdine that also believes that academic excellence and Christian faith complement one another. What are your thoughts on the integration of faith and learning?

Starr: This is a time of great promise for Christian higher education, as thoughtful reflection increasingly abounds with respect to the integration of faith and learning. I place inestimable value on the effort to reflect ever more thoughtfully on the role of Christian education in fostering the life of the mind and in preparing young people for lives of genuine service and sacrificial leadership around the globe. I share the Baylor view that knowledge must be informed by faith in fulfilling our calling to enable students to cultivate their capacity to think critically, to assess information, to arrive at informed and reasoned conclusions, and to become lifelong learners.

...

My wife, Alice, and I prayerfully considered the move across the country, but we were irresistibly drawn by Pepperdine's commitment to deepening the institution's treasured Christian mission and vision while enhancing educational excellence. The same vision and call now leads us to Baylor University.

....

However, I believe Baylor and its outstanding faculty, staff and students are poised to do truly great things by furthering the work of the university and reaching out in the finest traditions of Christian stewardship

...

How would you describe your faith journey?

Starr: I was raised in the Church of Christ, and my spiritual journey has led me to the broader evangelical world. At Pepperdine, we worship on campus at University Church of Christ, but we have also continued to be actively engaged in ministry at our former church, McLean Bible Church, in northern Virginia. There, my activities have focused on the inner city of Washington, D.C., and in serving special needs children and families throughout the metropolitan D.C. area. More broadly, I have encouraged the fostering of a truly global Christian perspective through service on the board of Advocates International, an evangelical human rights organization, and at Pepperdine through the creation of a vibrant and growing global justice program. Christ's transformational message irresistibly captures the imagination and holds great promise for the next decade of truly global opportunities for Baylor, the leading Protestant center of higher education in the United States - and perhaps the whole world.

From the Baptist Standard

WACO—When Baylor University regents announced Kenneth Starr as their unanimous choice as the school’s president, Baptist General Convention of Texas President David Lowrie acknowledged, “It caught me off guard.” But after meeting Starr at a gathering of Texas Baptist leaders, Lowrie noted he was “very impressed.”

“He impressed me as a genuine Christian gentleman, a scholar, very articulate and very committed to applying Christian values to the challenges faced in Christian higher education,” he said.

Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church in Canyon, acknowledged Starr’s religious background as a non-Baptist who was baptized in the Church of Christ and has been member of a nondenominational evangelical congregation could mean he has “two strikes against him” in the eyes of some Texas Baptists.

“But I believe him to be a genuine follower of our Lord and Savior, and in regard to principles, he seems to espouse the Baptist beliefs we hold onto,” he said.
Lowrie held out the possibility Starr has already been Baptist in belief but not in church affiliation.

“Time will tell,” he said. “He is willing to align himself with us, knowing who we are.”


Lowrie voiced hope that Starr’s background will help Baylor “make a stronger connection to the world we are trying to impact.”

At the same time, he acknowledged Starr’s role as the independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton also could be an obstacle to unity. But, he insisted, based on first impressions, he was surprised by Starr’s lack of overt political partisanship.

“He wasn’t the man I anticipated meeting,” he said, noting he left the meeting with Starr convinced his “relentless pursuit (during the Clinton investigation) was driven by a commitment to principle rather than by partisan politics.”

He noted Starr’s personal involvement in ministries to the disadvantaged and his advocacy for death row prisoners as evidence of principles that transcend political labels.

“He didn’t strike me as wanting to position Baylor as Republican school,” Lowrie said.

...

Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, described Starr as “not only a zealous, brilliant advocate on the biggest issues of the day, but also someone who is deeply concerned about and kind to every individual he encounters.”

“From the students for whom he is impressively available, to the death row inmates whose legal appeals he has handled on a pro bono basis, he is unstintingly generous with his time, expertise and wisdom,” Strossen said. “Ken Starr is deeply committed to academic freedom and to the robust exchange of ideas, including ideas with which he personally disagrees. He will be a superb leader of Baylor University and a wonderful mentor and role model for all of Baylor’s students.”

Ken Hall, chief executive officer of Buckner International, chaired the advisory committee named to work alongside the presidential search committee, which was comprised entirely of regents. Hall insisted Starr brings to the university “an uncommon understanding of Baylor’s unique and distinct mission as a national Christian university with historic Baptist ties.”

Regent Duane Brooks, pastor of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston, praised Starr as “a brilliant thinker” who “listens carefully to others and deliberates before making decisions.”

“Starr is Baptistic in his theology,” Brooks continued. “He greatly treasures and convictionally contends for the Baptist distinctives which we Baptists have long held dear.”

McLean Bible church (mentioned in the quote in #18 above as his church while in DC) has a great reputation. It is a really big church in the DC suburbs of Northern Virginia. Solid teaching/preaching, and a lot of life there.

When I heard him speak and met him a decade+ ago at one or more Christian Legal Society functions, Starr was very open about his faith and struck me as being just what he described himself: part of the "broader evangelical world" but evangelical in a very real, solid, thoughtful sense not just as a term to casually throw about.